This advice is
offered by various pathologists in a generous spirit to help other pathologists
on employment related matters. It represents their opinions, and not
necessarily the opinion of PathologyOutlines.com, LLC.

Article on transitioning (what to do if terminated/laid off) on 9/20/2005: click here

Comments from Dr. Steve Phillips on 3/19/2004:

Yes,
I agree that it's always best for "job seekers" to do the
seeking. It seems to me that employers are a tad reticent to contact
people out there who post themselves, who hope that such
advertisement will yield results. That implies expecting the easy way
out; it might imply that you think so much of yourself and your skills
that someone ought to come to you. The market just doesn't work that way
these days.

I
would strongly advise anyone to get a stack of their CV's and just call up
people at places where they might want to work, ask to come by, and in as
friendly and professional a manner as possible drop off the CV, tell the
potential employer in person briefly that they'd really like to be considered
for a position, and then leave so as not take up any more of their time unless
it were clear the potential employer wanted to chat.

Networking
is helpful. Talking to people at meetings as much as possible is
useful. Doing all this got me some leads and actually is how I found my
job. I looked in mostly competitive places (Oregon and California). If the
"seeker" should maintain any sort of mantra, it's "don't get
discouraged....keep looking!"

Comments from Dr. Arthur Copeland on 4/29/2004:

I am a
pathologist living in the Houston, TX area. I have experienced a problem that probably many pathologists
has faced over the past few years--finding work. With all the corporate
takeovers, downsizings, layoffs -- ( I hear Tenet Healthcare ( HMO) is
getting out of the business of healthcare, I hear the CEO of Ameripath
recently resigned/retired over failing second quarter profits, and I have a
friend in practice in Oklahoma that is seriously considering leaving a practice
despite aggressive use of fine needle aspirations in his practice), I have
found the following might be useful. Every individual is different, with
different backgrounds, but useful to consider are the following:

www.aacc.org. This is a website jobfinder run
by the American Association of Clinical Chemistry. It has jobs in clinical
pathology, but occasionally Anatomic Pathology, Cytology and Executive (VP,
CEO, etc.) in industrial settings (e.g. IMPATH, where anatomic skills in
evaluating immunohistochemical stains, development, etc are used). Also for the
"academic types", they also list small community college and junior
college academic jobs (e.g. teach anatomy or clinical sciences to allied
health students, nursing colleges, med tech programs, etc). The latter may not
be the same as a tutorial at U. Chicago, but will pay adequate for the work
done (e.g. teach three lectures a week, etc.) and there is still
student interaction. Most have campus perks (health club, tennis
courts, swimming pools, free lunch/breakfast, faculty lounge, etc) as well.

The
following pharmaceutical companies, occasionally can use skills of either
anatomic or clinical pathology in many settings: www.merck.com,
www.wyeth.com, www.novartis.com, www.genetech.com (or www.gene.com). As far as remuneration, most
will pay at least USD 100,000 per year plus perks and benefits, most have No
night call, No weekend work, and No liability hassles. As such it is worthy of
consideration.